Love buttery, roasted sweet potatoes? Well today, we’re raising the bar and making them FONDANT style! Slow-roasted in garlicky stock so they absorb flavour and become meltingly tender inside, and caramelised on the outside. Serve as-is, or douse with Maple Butter Pecan Sauce for extra wow factor.
Simple to make, sounds fancy, tastes fab. Home run! (Pssst – Excellent holiday side dish)
Fondant Slow-Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Stick the word “fondant” in front of “potato”, and suddenly your everyday spuds sound a whole lot fancier.
But in reality, it’s just potatoes that have been slow-roasted with a little stock until they absorb the flavour. They become creamy and savoury on the inside, and golden caramelised on the outside.
Just a little bit of extra effort for which you will reap very big rewards.
While you can “fondant” ordinary potatoes, I think it’s even better with sweet potatoes. Especially if you douse them with the optional-but-not-really Maple Butter Pecan Sauce!
What you need for Fondant Slow-Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Here’s what you need:
For the Fondant Potatoes:
- Sweet potatoes – 1.25 – 1.5 kg / 2.5 – 3 lb or 3 medium/large ones, preferably around the same size. Basically you need enough to fill a roasting pan with 3cm / 1.2″ thick rounds, leaving some space between each one. Leave the skin on – it’s free extra nutrition but also holds the slices together even when they are meltingly tender inside;
- Butter AND oil for roasting – we love butter for flavour, but it burns at high temperatures. So to help minimise this, we use a combination of butter with oil so we get the best of both worlds – the buttery flavour and some nice browning which you can only achieve in a hot oven; and
- Salt & pepper.
For the Maple Butter Pecan Sauce:
- Maple syrup – pure maple syrup is best, for the best flavour! If you can’t get or your budget doesn’t extend to pure maple syrup, opt for honey rather than artificially-flavoured maple syrup;
- Butter – to add a touch of buttery richness into the sauce; and
- Chopped pecans – best to chop whole ones yourself for better flavour than buying pre-chopped. Also terrific with walnuts, almonds, pistachios – and probably more, I just haven’t tried!
How to make Fondant Sweet Potatoes
Here’s how to make fondant sweet potatoes:
- Thick slices – Cut into thick 3cm / 1.2″ slices – thick enough so they don’t collapse into mush with the 1-hour roasting time required for this recipe;
- Sprinkle & drizzle – Lay in a roasting pan, douse with melted butter and oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Just squidge them around in the pan, turning to coat – no need to dirty a separate bowl for this step;
- Roast 20 minutes – Roast for 20 minutes in a hot 240°C/465°F oven;
- Flip & roast 15 minutes – Flip, then roast for another 15 minutes. By this time, both sides should have some nice colour on them and they will be cooked through. But we’re going to take them further to make them ultra creamy on the inside as well as add flavour!
- Baste – Spoon the buttery pan juices over the potato;
- Roast in stock 20 minutes – pour stock in and optional garlic (I just can’t help myself). Then return to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes until the stock is soaked up by the potatoes. You’ll end up with a thick sludge at the bottom of the pan which might even look a little burnt, but that’s ok – we aren’t using it!
This is what they look out of the oven – caramelised on the edges with the skin holding together the super soft flesh inside!
How to make the Maple Butter Pecan Sauce
Plonk and simmer – Toast the pecans in a dry pan first to bring out the nutty flavours. Then just add butter, maple, cinnamon and a pinch of salt and simmer for a couple of minutes until it reduces and thickens slightly.
The sauce will thicken as it cools, so don’t worry if it looks thin when hot!
Sweetness factor – and how to reduce sweetness
With the sweet potato and the Maple Butter Sauce, there’s no denying that this is a sweet dish so it might not be to your taste if you aren’t into sweet-savoury dishes.
However, unlike other similar sweet potato dishes, this has an element of savoury in it from the stock absorbed by the potatoes and the nuts which counteracts the sweetness.
Also, remember that you’re not supposed to eat the whole platter yourself, just one or two pieces (each piece is a sizeable chunk!) and it’s best served alongside properly savoury dishes for balance.
But if you want to reduce the sweetness, here are a few options:
- Skip the sauce – the Fondant Sweet Potatoes have enough flavour as it is, the sauce just takes it over the top!
- Just use the pecans sprinkled over the potatoes, ie. no maple sauce;
- Use the Honey Lemon Dressing in this Roasted Sweet Potato Salad recipe instead – the lemon balances out the sweetness. Switch the honey for maple syrup to retain a similar flavour profile!
What to serve with Fondant Sweet Potatoes
The flavourings in this dish are certainly on-theme for holiday feasting. It’s right at home on a Christmas or Thanksgiving table. Having said that, it’s just generally an excellent, simple side dish that’s worthy of pulling out all year-round whether it’s to accompany something simple like a lime marinated chicken, a simple crispy pan fried fish or Garlic Prawns.
It’s also a handy dish for big feasting occasions because it can be served warm OR at room temperature, so you don’t need to worry about preparing it fresh. The potatoes are so soft inside and there’s no crispiness to be retained on the outside so it doesn’t matter if they cool down.
If you give this sweet potato recipe a go, I’d love to know how you served it! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Fondant Slow-Roasted Sweet Potatoes – with Maple Butter Pecans
Ingredients
Fondant Potatoes:
- 1.5 kg / 3 lb sweet potatoes – 3 thick ones (Note 1)
- 25g/ 1 1/2 tbsp butter , unsalted, melted (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil (Note 2)
- 3/4 tsp salt , kosher/cooking (1/2 tsp table salt)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/4 cups chicken stock , low sodium (or vegetable stock)
- 1 garlic clove , finely minced
Maple Butter Pecan Sauce (optional / not really!):
- 1/2 cup maple syrup (pure, Note 3)
- 30g/ 2 tbsp butter , unsalted
- 1/3 cup pecans , chopped (Note 4)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
Serving
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (highly recommended)
Instructions
Fondant Potatoes:
- Preheat oven to 240°C/465°F (220°C fan).
- Cut the potatoes into 3cm / 1.2″ discs.
- Place the potatoes in a large roasting pan or baking sheet with tallish sides (we're adding liquid later).
- Drizzle with butter and oil, sprinkle with half the salt and pepper. Squidge around, turn potatoes, sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.
- Roast: Place in the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
- Turn, continue roasting: Carefully turn potatoes, then roast for a further 15 minutes.
- Baste, add stock: Spoon the butter/oil collecting in the pan over the potatoes. Then carefully pour the stock in around the potatoes, and scatter the garlic into the liquid.
- Roast to absorb stock: Return to the oven, and roast for a further 15 to 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed/evaporated. The exact time depends on the height of pan walls / how heavy-based your pan is etc.
- Assemble & serve: Transfer potatoes to serving platter, scraping up some of the pan juices as you go (Note 5), and piling them high on the plate. Pour over Maple Butter Pecan Sauce and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves just before serving. Serve warm – or at room temperature!
Maple Butter Pecan Sauce:
- Place pecans in a saucepan or small skillet over medium high heat. Stir for 30 seconds until you can smell the pecans. Add remaining ingredients, then once the butter melts and it starts bubbling, simmer on medium heat for 1 1/2 minutes until it reduces and thickens slightly (it gets thicker as it cools).
- Transfer to serving jug. Serve over potatoes.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
A regular occurrence at the dog beach (paired with screeching).
Wow! I made this for Thanksgiving and it turned out beautifully. I did however, leave out the garlic. I just couldn’t do it. I found it easy to prepare and it traveled well. It sat fully assembled in a catering warmer box for 1 1/2 hrs. I was worried the maple pecan topping would get to sticky but it was perfect so that as I dished each piece the topping had a gooey effect much like a cheesy dish. It tasted phenomenal! Big hit from folks that were at first disappointed there were no marshmallows involved! Lol. So creamy and delish. I did have some who left the skin behind but that was their loss. Thank you for this wonderful dish!
Sounds like you nailed it Kelly!! N x
The fondant sweet potatoes was a fantastic hit with our thanksgiving dinner tonight. When I bought it to the table, everyone’s mouth fell open, then I heard awwww’s. Even though I had tripled the recipe, many at the dinner table asked for more. The sweet potato fondant was so scrumptious, totally yummy. This will no doubt be a regular at our holiday dinners, as well as, on our (occasionally) Sunday dinners. Thank you Nagi for an outstanding dish to be cherished again and again.
That’s great Morgan!! N x
I cannot believe how amazing this was. I don’t love sweet potatoes or maple syrup but I had multiple servings and licked the topping spoon before I cleaned. We ate it room temperature with warm sauce poured over which worked out perfectly. Thank you for such a fantastic recipe.
I made this for our Thanksgiving dinner and it was my favorite part of the dinner. Thank you for sharing this easy, yummy recipe! I will definitely make it again.
I’m so glad you loved them Christine! N x
Hi Niga, i know this has beed asked before, but wondering if you or anybody had made this a day early and re-heated the.? Im thinking I could cook the potatoes and do the topping the day of serving… what do you think?
Hi Nagi! I am going to make this recipe for Thanksgiving (as I implied in my original post by saying THANKSGIVING!!!!)
The sweet potato’s I got are very small – more like 1 to 1.5 inches around the center. As they are so small, should I roast them for less time given that they are significantly smaller? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Deborah – yes they will cook quicker, just keep an eye on them for when the turn tender – probably at about 10-15 minutes & then a further 15 minutes or so. N x
Looking forward to making these for Thanksgiving, could these be made a day or 2 ahead? Im having a large turkey that will take up most of the oven. do you think I could re-heat in a microwave?
These were excellent! I made them for a women’s brunch at church and everyone wanted the recipe — I gladly obliged! 🙂 Wouldn’t change a thing … sweet potato perfection!!!
In the event you were blessed enough to go join family at a gathering and wanted to bring these to share, could you prepare and transfer to a slow cooker to keep warm? Any modifications?
Hi Mrs Kay, you could definitely cook as per the recipe then transfer to a slow cooker to keep warm! N x
Hi, I just made these tonight. I did a mixture of maple & Karo dark syrup and a small amount of brown sugar for the sauce (along with the butter), My family loved them and I will be adding them to our Christmas dinner. I always make candied yams, but my teen age son won’t ever even try them, however, because he eats sweet potato fries, he agreed to try these(go figure, lol) and ended up eating half of the batch.
We absolutely loved these! We are currently curating the Christmas menu and these will definitely be on it.
Perfect Sophia!! N x
Hi, Nagi! Can’t wait to try this one but have a question… could monkfruit syrup be used instead of maple syrup to lower the sugar content? Thanks so much for ALL of your wonderful posts and recipes; I’ve tried several and ALL have been delicious!
Hi Denver, I’m sure it could – it would have a different flavour though 🙂 N x
Thanks! When I try it, I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for the reply and thanks for all the amazing food!
I just made this dish but instead of the maple/pecan, I used a salsa verde (just b/c I find sweet pot sweet enough). I tried attaching a pic. The actual slow cooking of the potato is an absolute winner.